Yay for us! Our "Little Loft" in our original smalltown hometown-on-the-prairie is

such a joy! It has turned out better than even we expected...after years of planning the layout, the rooms, the furnishings, and more. Moving back to our charming SW Oklahoma hometown in December of 2011, our loft was FAR from finished...we had the basic plan in mind, but there was sooo much work to be done!

That's a nice way to say...it was a MESS. 50 years of the upstairs of our beautiful building being used for storage and not must else...left us with a bunch of dust and dirt and clutter...but a WHOLE lot of potential!

BEST OF ALL...finishing it gave us a place of our own...to be near and help our precious aging parents. Paula's parents are R.W. and Dorthy F. Hughes, who owned and ran Hughes Jewelry for 55 years in this sweet town, and Paul's is the late Betty Carpenter, one of the dearest ladies ever.

If you don't know us...well here's a small intro:

Paula, (me) whose University of Oklahoma degree is in music education, has had a successful career as both a music teacher in her early career, and then as a longtime-commuter-to-Nashville songwriter in contemporary Christian, Country, and Pop music, with cuts in all genres. She is VERY much enjoying the return to her hometown.

Paul, whose education and career experience is as a Dr. of Pharmacy, both hospital and retail pharmacist, and Home Healthcare Company founder and owner, is a longtime active pharmacist and Health Care Consultant, and also serves as a pharmacist consultant to Frederick's own Memorial Hospital and Physicians Group.

We have completed interior construction and moved into our lovely loft...and it is our hometown dream come true! Having lived in the award-winning Main Street city of Denton, TX (a creative and cultural treasure!) for almost forty years and restoring as our private residence one of Denton's most significant historic landmarks, a Queen Anne Victorian home in Denton's Oak-Hickory Historic District, we bring back to Oklahoma with us a deep love and commitment to

Some thoughts on historic buildings....places of our past, pieces of our hearts....

Calling all walk-down-memory-lane-aholics! This is SUCH a love story about family, old architecture, taking a giant leap-of-faith, and hometowns... it will unfold bit by bit...

We decided we didn't want to be one of those people who... looks at their sweet little (or big! or mid-sized!) hometown, sees a lovely building *crying out* for help - paint, stabilizing, a new roof, more renovation - but, due to fear? apathy? doesn't do anything about it. For all of us - surely we don't want to take for granted what we would OOOH and AAAHH over, those lovely old tin ceilings or stained glass windows or fabulous vintage woodwork... if we saw them

'out of context' in a big-city antique shop.

Is it possible that we could take a NEW look at our OLD stomping grounds...and start to value the beauty and intrinsic value WHERE we see it - in that run-down old building in our various hometowns?! Calling out for our help? Could we all use a little more VISION?

You'll find that having 'vision' for your hometown...is a theme here at LITTLE LOFT!

Please consider investing in one of the lovely old buildings in YOUR hometown's downtown district...and save a piece not only of YOUR past...but of all of our American past.

These little towns (and big...and medium-sized; it just so happens that we grew up in and near a small town) are part of our SOULS, pieces of our HEARTS...don't let YOUR hometown fall into such a state of disrepair that there is no way to save it. Don't let it get to the point that all that's left to do is to take down the buildings we grew up with...for salvage. Oh what a heart-break.

The city of Denton, Tx, a Texas Main Street City, where, as mentioned, we once restored an historicQueen Anne Victorian home, has a wonderful and active Historic Landmark Commission and also Historic Commission. The 'logo' of the city's landmarks is:

"PRESERVING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE".

Absolutely!

If the past structures all are destroyed due to disprepair and neglect...how will you show your children and grandchildren where you grew up? What the world was like then? How will you explain your memories, your childhood, and put a place with the story you're telling? Pictures...aren't enough.

PRESERVE THE PAST...FOR THE FUTURE.DO IT. ONLY WE CAN,

ONE CARING HEART AT A TIME.

Even if your town is NOT a "Main Street City" ... it's still worth saving!

My husband and I decided that we couldn't live with ourselves if we let one of the loveliest old buildings in our hometown disintegrate...the stately old HUGHES BUILDING, formerly known as the DILLINGHAM BUILDING, in Frederick, Oklahoma. Not only was it the site of 55 years of business for my father's independently-owned, family-run jewelry store, Hughes Jewelry, but in it's original life, it was a Victorian red brick structure, the BANK OF COMMERCE building, built in or about 1903, in the days beFORE Oklahoma statehood (1907), just prior to the famous visit by then-President Teddy Roosevelt.

Later clad with beige and grey stone in what we believe was the late 1940's, it has stood on a prominent corner of the town, overlooking Main Street and Grand Avenue for these 107 or so years now.

My Dad first purchased his business in 1952, then later purchased this entire 5000 sf building from the Dillingham family in the 1960s, and we purchased it from Daddy in the 1990s. The upstairs, originally offices for various lawyers, financiers, insurance agents, and more...gradually became uninhabited as the culture moved away from 'upstairs offices' in towns and cities, and was used for storage

for the business.

When we purchased the building, we knew we wanted to renovate the upstairs and return it (adapted to current goals for use) to it's former glory. The interior boasts MANY lovely old not-to-be-found-anymore structural details and elements, incuding SCADS and SCADS of lovely old high-quality, great-condition beadboard, (no tin ceilings, darn), beautifully-grained Victorian Era woodwork, including corner pieces, tall baseboards, door and window woodwork and caps, wood floors, solid-wood doors, ornate doorplates and doorknobs, to name a few.

Join us on the adventure! Better yet...start one of your OWN...save a piece of YOUR past!